Brush<\/li>\n<\/ol>Yes, brush last, not first!<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you wake up in the morning, plaque has built up overnight,\u201d says Hoss. Mouthwash will help to loosen food particles and plaque from your teeth, making them easier to remove.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I would recommend using a floss first to clean between the teeth,\u201d says Hoss. Choose your floss carefully: some have a petroleum-based wax or other ingredients that aren\u2019t suitable for mouths. Hoss recommends floss made of silk or nylon, and a beeswax coating is also a good choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you want to use a tongue scraper to make sure your tongue is clean, because that\u2019s also a source of a lot of microbes that can cause bad breath and it can even interfere with taste.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, you want to brush your teeth with a slightly alkaline toothpaste.<\/p>\n
What mouthwash should I use?<\/h2>\n
You\u2019ve probably heard you should be using mouthwash to kill all the bacteria in your mouth, and that in turn will protect you from cavities. But Hoss says this is not actually the best way to use mouthwash to look after your teeth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of your mouth as a garden and your oral microbiome as the beautiful flowers and the vegetation and the plants. How do you take care of your garden?\u201d says Hoss. \u201cWell, you probably trim it to make sure it gets the Sun where it needs to, and you water it and you give the nutrients to the soil, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is a weed here and it grows, what do you do? Do you pour acid all over your garden, or do you just take out those weeds selectively?\u201d That is, using a powerful, antiseptic mouthwash can actually do more harm than good by decimating your oral microbiome, and killing the \u2018good\u2019 microbes as well as the \u2018bad\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of using an antiseptic mouthwash, you can use an alkaline mouthwash that actually restores the pH.\u201d The pH of your mouth is vital \u2013 too acidic and the \u2018bad bacteria\u2019 that lead to cavities and oral diseases can thrive.<\/p>\n
What causes cavities?<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe way you get cavities or you get oral diseases is when that pH becomes acidic,\u201d says Hoss.<\/p>\n
Ordinarily, your mouth should be a neutral pH of around 7, neither acidic or alkaline. When you eat or drink, the pH drops to around 5.5, thanks both to the food itself and the enzymes your mouth produces to digest it. \u201cAlso, as your mouth becomes more acidic, the bacteria that love acid, which are the \u2018bad bacteria\u2019, they are the ones who thrive in that environment,\u201d says Hoss. \u201cAnd what do they do? They eat that food, let\u2019s just say sugar, and they excrete more acid. And so that creates this cycle of acidic environment in the mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
When your mouth\u2019s pH hits 5.5, the acid starts to dissolve hydroxyapatite, the mineral enamel is made of, out of your teeth. This process is called \u2018demineralisation\u2019. It sounds scary, but don\u2019t worry \u2013 it\u2019s reversible. When you stop eating, the pH is raised again. Your teeth are bathed in saliva, and over 30 minutes to an hour, they are remineralised.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as you don\u2019t eat a lot of \u2018bad food\u2019 and you don\u2019t eat too frequently, there\u2019s a balance between this demineralisation and remineralisation and you don\u2019t get a cavity,\u201d Hoss explains. \u201cHowever, if you eat a lot of bad foods \u2013 \u2018bad foods\u2019 means sugar and processed foods and simple carbohydrates and acidic foods \u2013 or if you do this too frequently, there\u2019s more demineralisation than remineralisation and you get these holes in the teeth called cavities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listen to the full podcast below:<\/strong><\/p>\n